A fan translation patch is currently in development for Capcom's epic role-playing series El Dorado Gate, according to a recent post on the Dreamcast-Talk forums (as spotted by the folks at Romhack.ing).
El Dorado Gate, in case you're unaware, was a 7-part serial released for the Sega Dreamcast between October 2000 and October 2001, exclusively in Japan, and featured character designs and artwork from the Final Fantasy illustrator Yoshitaka Amano, as well as a dramatic story from Flagship, a Capcom subsidiary founded by Yoshiki Okamoto.
It follows the quest of twelve different characters who share a mysterious connection to one another who must embark on a journey, under the guidance of a figure named Bantoss, to become the new guardians of the titular gate and overcome their own personal dramas. It features many common RPG traits that are typical of the genre, including turn-based combat, dungeon exploration, and the ability to upgrade and enhance weapons and armour.
The Dreamcast fan bigbanana23 is the person in question who has taken on the responsibility of creating translation patches for all 7 volumes, stating on the Dreamcast-Talk forum that, as of right now, they have managed to do the following for the first volume.
- Cracked the archive formats and compression algorithm to unpack the various script files/images on the disc, and written all corresponding tools
- Implemented variable-width fonts for the standard game text and Gabri text
- Implemented text compression which incorporates single-byte encoding and dual-tile encoding.
- Extracted all script files, enemy and item tables and inserted placeholders
They anticipate that much of this work will also be able to reused on the other volumes too, as they believe "most of the various routines were compiled the same", so any "modified/inserted code" should be possible to port over with "updated addresses".
However, they admit there is still a lot of other work to do before a release is possible, with the editor and translator they have brought on board having yet to start on the translating the story, and several graphical elements such as "logos, chapter titles, map labels etc" for the first volume still needing to be replaced. Because of this, they don't want to put a timeline on when exactly the first patch will be available to download.
You can view some of the images of the project below:
If you want to continue following its progress, bigbanana23 has stated that they will continue posting new update in the forum thread as work on the project continues, so that will probably be the best way to keep tabs on its development.
We'll also be keeping our eyes open for any new developments as they emerge, and will try to update you here.